Post by campfarmerangie on Dec 6, 2007 15:57:08 GMT -5
The vet just called: Staph in three quarters.
He said staph is food bourne, so it's risky to drink her raw milk.
I have a million things racing through my head, but I'd really like to hear the truth from you all: what should I do with this cow? I can't drink her milk. I could keep her to raise beef cows, but my parents have a beef herd, so I don't really need the beef. She could go live on their farm, so I will ask them if they'd like that. I don't want her around my other cow, for fear of spreading the staph. The vet said it's not really likely, unless I first milked Gladys and then carried the staph germs on my hands or milking equipment. But then he mentioned flies in the summer transmitting it, so, that worries me.
The vet recommended drying her up now and either trying to breed her or turn her into hamburger.
I'll have to sit on this for a while and think about what to do. Part of me thinks that I should just either take her to my parents to raise little scottish highland/jersey crosses, but my folks couldn't really sell the beef, because they specialize in highlands, and I don't want to pass on her funky udder genetics to any future milk cows. That is somethig else the vet mentioned, that her udder conformation made her more susceptible to mastitis? I should have questioned him on that but didn't.
The vet works for Va Tech at the vet school there and he mentioned that they have a jersey herd and that they often cull lower producting cows. He'd let me know when they have one to sell. That's my inclination right now, after I just got off the phone with him-move Gladys on and get right back on the horse (cow). I feel like I finally got the hang of this, and I'm going to have to dry my cow up, and no milk till April! Any words of wisdom would be greatly appreciated.
Angie
He said staph is food bourne, so it's risky to drink her raw milk.
I have a million things racing through my head, but I'd really like to hear the truth from you all: what should I do with this cow? I can't drink her milk. I could keep her to raise beef cows, but my parents have a beef herd, so I don't really need the beef. She could go live on their farm, so I will ask them if they'd like that. I don't want her around my other cow, for fear of spreading the staph. The vet said it's not really likely, unless I first milked Gladys and then carried the staph germs on my hands or milking equipment. But then he mentioned flies in the summer transmitting it, so, that worries me.
The vet recommended drying her up now and either trying to breed her or turn her into hamburger.
I'll have to sit on this for a while and think about what to do. Part of me thinks that I should just either take her to my parents to raise little scottish highland/jersey crosses, but my folks couldn't really sell the beef, because they specialize in highlands, and I don't want to pass on her funky udder genetics to any future milk cows. That is somethig else the vet mentioned, that her udder conformation made her more susceptible to mastitis? I should have questioned him on that but didn't.
The vet works for Va Tech at the vet school there and he mentioned that they have a jersey herd and that they often cull lower producting cows. He'd let me know when they have one to sell. That's my inclination right now, after I just got off the phone with him-move Gladys on and get right back on the horse (cow). I feel like I finally got the hang of this, and I'm going to have to dry my cow up, and no milk till April! Any words of wisdom would be greatly appreciated.
Angie